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WINDSOR STAR (Ontario) 07 July 05 Rare turtle creates stir (Sharon Hill)
River Canard: Thirteen-year-old Steve Glen thought he was battling a big catfish in River Canard until he reeled in one strange looking turtle.
A bit of research on the internet confirmed he'd landed a threatened species, an eastern spiny softshell.
"I was 'Whoa. I never saw one of these in real life,'" he said Wednesday as he and his mother Laurie took the foot-long turtle into Erie Wildlife Rescue.
The turtle had swallowed the worm and hook and needed medical attention.
A spiny softshell is a rare sight, said Tammy Dobbie, Point Pelee National Park's ecosystem management co-ordinator.
"We usually have on average one valid sighting a year in and around Point Pelee National Park," she said, adding 2002 was the last time live ones were spotted at the park.
"You don't get many sightings. They are around but they're a shy and secretive turtle."
Dobbie said the softshell turtle, the only turtle like it in the country, is found in Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec. They're hard to spot because there are few of them and the speedy swimmers spend most of their time underwater in lakes. Sometimes only their nostrils stick out of the water.
Erie Wildlife Rescue drove the turtle to a Windsor veterinarian who planned to anesthetize it and put a scope down its neck to find the hook Wednesday.
Audrey McDonald, the rescue group's animal care manager, said the vet told her the anesthesia will put the turtle out for three days. The scope will help the vet see what damage has been done and, if all goes well, the turtle will be put on antibiotics and later released back in River Canard, she said.
The turtle is a female that is estimated by its size to be more than 20 years old, she said. The 2.4-kilogram turtle is 32 centimetres long and 26.5 centimetres wide.
Males are usually up to 23 centimetres long and adult females can be 18 to 43 centimetres long.
Dobbie said the Glens did the right thing and the turtle is worth saving because females don't reproduce until they're more than 12 years old. She said the turtle may have been in the river laying eggs, and losing even one female of the threatened species would hurt the population. She said some softshell turtles can live more than 50 years.
Steve reeled in and netted the turtle with the help of his older brother Chris Tuesday night. Laurie said she called Erie Wildlife Rescue and left the turtle overnight in a tub in the garage. "I hope she lives. I'm so upset about this."
Rare turtle creates stir

WINDSOR STAR (Ontario) 08 July 05 Ailing turtle recovering
Veterinarians had to cut through the neck of a rare spiny soft shell turtle to remove a fish hook left over from an unexpected catch on River Canard.
The turtle surprised a teenage angler on the river who thought he was reeling in a big catfish earlier this week. When he couldn't remove the hook, he brought the turtle to Erie Wildlife Rescue on Wednesday.
Erie Wildlife Rescue's new animal care manager Audrey McDonald said the veterinarian used a scope to spot the hook but didn't have enough room in the throat to pull it out Wednesday.
McDonald said the turtle was expected to be returned to Erie Wildlife Rescue today where workers will have to keep it wet with sponge baths every 15 minutes. The lake turtle can't stay underwater for now because the stitches could dissolve, she said.
"She's stirring," McDonald said of the slow recovery from the anaesthesia. "She has brought her head out. That's a very good sign."
McDonald said the turtle will be given antibiotics and, if it recovers, it will be returned to River Canard.
The threatened species with a leathery skin shell and a thin pig-like snout is a rare sight in Essex County and Ontario.
Its 32-cm length suggests it is a female that could be more than 20 years old.

WINDSOR STAR (Ontario) 12 July 05 Turtle continues recovery after throat surgery
Windsor: A rare spiny soft shell turtle continues to recuperate after an operation last week to remove a hook in its throat.
The turtle was caught by a teenager fishing in River Canard last week and taken to Erie Wildlife Rescue.
The female turtle -- nicknamed Myrtle -- needed stitches in its neck and will be on antibiotics for the next month.
It spent the weekend in the care of a foster care-giver and returned to Erie Wildlife, where it's expected to remain for at least a month before release.
Audrey McDonald, the centre's animal care manager, said on Monday, Myrtle "seems pretty happy, she's turning around in her box" and is recuperating well.